Happy Birthday Mark Calaway: 3-24-1962

I don’t watch professional wrestling. Not anymore at least. There was a time though when you would find me planted in front of the TV set anytime it was on. In those days, I still believed, or at least I still wanted to. As I got older, I found less and less time for my once favorite pastime. I lost track of the story lines and the stars. Every once and a while I would tune in, but it wasn’t the same. It never would be again. The world of professional wrestling was changing; becoming more polished, more extravagant. It was in this climate that Mark Calaway, native Houstonian, made his indelible mark on the world of professional wrestling. Though you won’t remember that name, he has never wrestled under it. In November of 1990, World Wrestling Federation fans were exposed to a tall, lithe, imposing figure dressed in black with a wide brimmed hat gray gloves and gray spats and eyes that looked like death themselves. This was the debut of one the most memorable and popular persona’s in the history of professional wrestling, Mark Calaway AKA, The Undertaker.

Callaway was born and raised in Houston along with four brothers. He attended Waltrip High School where he played basketball and graduated in 1983.

Calaway began wrestling in Dallas in 1984, and spent many years on the smaller circuit wrestling under a variety of names for two different promotions before being signed World Championship Wrestling, under the name “Mean” Mark Callous, which gave him his first mainstream exposure. He signed with World Wrestling Federation in October 1990.

Callaway’s career as a WWF (later changed to WWE) superstar is long and storied, he has held tag team titles(6 times), heavyweight titles(2 times), The WWF/E Championship (6 times) and 1 Hardcore Championship. He has even inspired his own comic book from Chaos Comics.

Mark Calaway, as The Undertaker, to this day, remains one of the most recognizable figures in professional wrestling.